No device adapted to clean the entirety of the outer surface of convex lenses recessed within a protective housing is known to applicant. Brushes, of a widely varied assortment of shapes and sizes, have of course been known for some time. However, the usefulness of even an optimally-shaped brush is limited to those instances in which the source of the visual interference is a particle, and a lightly-adhering particle, at that. While a brush can often remove a light particle from such an environment, all too often it merely succeeds in transferring the offending particle from one portion of the lens to another, usually to or near the "deepest" portion of the lens, i.e., that portion near the junction of the housing securing the lens or the protective cylinder. For heavier particles, brushes are generally ineffective, and they of course are completely ineffective for smudges and smears.
Most cameras, binoculars, and hunting scopes today commonly have protective end caps to protect the outer lenses from contact with dust particles and other contaminants. However, such protective end caps obviously can not remain over the lenses at all times, and when they are removed the lenses are directly exposed to foreign contaminants. Also, the protective caps can be, and often are, a source of contamination themselves; when removed, the caps are themselves exposed to the environment, and frequently pick up contaminants and transfer them to the lenses they were intended to protect upon being returned to their protective position.
Similarly, no lens cleaner particularly adapted to clean such lenses via the application of a cleaning solution and the subsequent application of a polishing paper is known to applicant. Rather, the sportsman is left to improvise such paraphernalia as best as he can, resulting in a procedure usually awkward at best in the comfort of the home and quite difficult, if not impossible, in the field. Inasmuch as a smudge or a smear could mean the difference between success or failure of a hunt or other outdoor expedition, there is clearly a need for a means whereby all such obstructions, regardless of their nature, may be quickly and conveniently removed in the field.
As earlier stated, no devices particularly designed to completely clean such lenses are known to applicant. U.S. Pat. No. 1,355,026, to Austin, discloses a fountain brush embodying a hollow handle into which the bristles are retractable. Such a device, though, being intended for use as a shaving brush, is obviously intended to deposit material on surfaces, not to remove particles from surfaces. Thus such a device does not readily suggest itself for adaptations or experiments on how to accomplish the opposite of its intended purpose.
Virtually all prior art brushes are similarly designed to apply, rather than to remove, foreign materials. French Patent No. 890,205, to Walter-Martin, discloses a variety of brushes which appear intended for use with the application of polishes and associated materials for fingernails. None appears suitable for the problem solved by applicant's invention, nor do they suggest modifications therefor.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,261,502 to Farrows discloses a fountain pen-like device for cleaning eyeglasses. The device provides a liquid container and a wick or swab associated therewith by which the liquid in said container may be caused to be in communication with the eyeglasses. The wick or swab is not itself retractable or extensible, but a surrounding sleeve may be withdrawn, after the end cap i removed, to expose the wick. The device thus provides only limited means for washing readily accessible objects such as eyeglass lenses, and leaves it up to the user to provide means for drying the lenses to complete the operation. Similar in purpose and construction is the device shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,227,710 to Finn. The Finn device even more closely resembles a fountain pen container; when the top is removed, there is exposed a liquid-filled barrel portion with a pervious stopper therein for washing the eyeglasses. The top contains an inner container, for which no removal means are shown, but which must be removed in order to utilize the drying material contained therein. Upon removal of the inner container, a hairpin or similar implement must be utilized to provide access to the drying material. Such an arrangement depends upon gravity for supplying the cleaning fluid to the eyeglass and would not permit independent control of the amount of cleaning fluid applied, i.e., a fixed amount could not be applied independently of the amount of rubbing action applied in that the longer one rubbed, the more fluid that would be applied. Inasmuch as it is the drying action which is the most critical to the complete cleaning of lenses, the disadvantageousness of this feature is readily seen. Another disadvantageous feature is provided by the cumbersome nature of the operations for field use on, for example a rifle-mounted scope.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,228 to Numbers discloses a combined lens cover and lens brush for the lenses of cameras, telescopes, binoculars and the like. Inspection of the patent adds little to the title; it is readily seen to be simply a lens cap combined with a lens brush which may either be fixed, moveable, or removeable. Only the removeable version would seem to have any utility for lenses sized differently than the one for which the cap is designed; i.e., the attached versions would not seem to be suitable for lenses larger than the subject cap, thus requiring the purchase of a number of such protective devices and also limiting the usefulness thereof.
Various and sundry other artifacts and devices have been employed generally for cleaning eyeglass lenses and contact lenses. Exemplary of the former is U.S. Pat. No. 1,602,333, Burke, which discloses generally cup-shaped containers containing cores over which the lens cleaning elements are removably stretched. The inapplicability of such a device to the problem at hand is of course readily apparent. Exemplary of the latter are U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,461, Floor, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,102,294, Miller. Floor discloses preferably concave surfaces for receiving such lenses and saturatable pads for cleaning the same. Miller discloses a cup-shaped lens-cleaning head with a preformed body of foam rubber over which a cheesecloth cover may be placed. Neither, of course, readily lends itself to the present invention.
These and other limitations and disadvantages of the prior art, and especially of the aforementioned patents, are overcome with the present invention, and commercially acceptable embodiments of a readily portable device for cleaning hunting scopes, telescopes, cameras, binoculars and the like, in the field, are herein provided.